Friday, January 11, 2008

Advice For Dion

One of the challenges Dion has to address, is the lingering opinion that he is "wishy-washy". That narrative feeds the bigger hurdle, the idea of weak leadership. I would suggest that Dion, or his handlers, stop with the forever changing stance on the need for an election. Saber rattling one week, more coy the next, gives the impression that the Liberals are scattered, poll-driven opportunists.

Yesterday, Dion went back to the previous posture, the one he adopted before the period where he was gung ho, after the period where he laid out his "demands" (hard to keep track):

OTTAWA–Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is backing away from his tough talk about provoking a federal election at the earliest opportunity.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Dion was repeatedly pressed about whether he'd use his power as Opposition leader to trigger the defeat of the government soon after Parliament resumes Jan. 28.

"I have no plan to do so for now," Dion replied.

Instead, it now seems that the Liberals will be content to wait and see what's in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's next budget – expected in March – and then judge whether to topple the minority government on a budget vote.

It was only a little more than a month ago, in Montreal, when Dion told Liberal riding presidents to be ready for the plug to be pulled on Harper's government as soon as possible.

In fact, Dion told reporters that February represented a symbolic bar of sorts for the electorate, since it will mark the second anniversary of Harper assuming office in 2006. He appeared to be saying that the Liberals were ready to call an end to their controversial fall approach of abstaining on make-or-break votes for the government.

But it seems that there has been a change of mind over the Christmas and New Year's break.

The Star article points to Decima holiday poll to try and understand the different posture. I'm not sure I buy that reasoing, but then again, there does seem to be a definite co-relation between the polls and the Liberal rhetoric.

I don't think the Liberals do themselves any favors with the confusing statements, and it only feeds a negative impression of Dion. Dion's best chance in any election is too present himself as genuine and principled. The "moving the goalposts" routine that we have seen for the past 5 months work against that perception, making the Liberals look self-interested and calculating. If I could offer some advice, get a consistent posture and don't waver, no matter the wind's direction, at a given moment.

I am going by what I heard first-hand, coming from a source that is about as high as you can get. Be ready for Feb, we will pull the plug the first chance we get. The media is well aware of this whisper campaign.

There have been mixed messages, dating back to August, and I'm just saying that it would be better if we toned down the rhetoric because it appears inconsistent, detail aside.

The CPC government has an idealogy. It has a program. It is building a track record of achievement.

The Liberal Party of Canada will never find its footing until it actually re-creates itself, what it stands for, and how it would benefit Canadian's by being our government.

For Dion and the LPC to say $1 billion isn't enough, or that the government should spend the billion without the House approval, or that the inquiry is too narrow, or that troops should leave in 2009 not 2010, or that the PM shouldn't have supper with the Premiers... is all just wasted rhetoric coming from chronic complainers, not a government in waiting.

The public will not buy that in enough quantity to vote the Liberal's in. In fact, they will continue to slide down the slope, until the LPC builds platform and starts telling Canadian's how it will govern. The argument that the CPC will just steal the good ideas, isn't going to wash.

Canadian's are hungry for different ideas (e.g. the environment, the green economy, and global solutions) but aren't getting anything with meat on it. Why won't the Liberal Party of Canada actually detail an environmental plan that people can understand, see how it would work, and decide that it would be good for the longterm interests of Canadians.

How about law and order and societal justice? Show Canadian's a better way. Give them a platform and a pathway for a safer, better, more just society.

Harper is the one who has mislead us - he's been campaigning (on our taxpayer money I might add) since the day he took office.

Another anonymous comment from someone who shows us exactly why they comment under anonymous.

Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative government has gotten an incredible amount of work done, all while operating with a minority govt. Do a little research before you start throwing around these childishh comments based on absolutely nothing.